Articles
DWC hydroponics system
I am not much of a cook so salads are usually one of my favorite options for a healthy meal. So, just like for everything else, I started wondering if I could make my own. However, I don't have access to a garden so I started looking into solutions to grow vegetables indoors. I settled for hydroponics, which seemed to provide a good balance between yield and operational hassle. Specifically, I went for a Deep Water Culture type of hydroponic system as it is usually considered easy for beginners to setup.
IoT sensor module
Although a wide variety of sensing devices can be envisioned for home automation systems, motion and temperature sensors are among the most widespread. This is mostly due to their low cost and simplicity of use. In order to equip multiple rooms of my apartment with such sensors, I designed a simple IoT sensing module that can easily be produced in any quantity.
Unlocking my apartment with my face
As part of a previous project, I installed an IoT lock on my front door, which allowed me to control it using my smartphone. However, having to take out my smartphone every time I want to unlock the door quickly becomes annoying. To improve on the situation, I installed an RFID reader on the lock, which I used in combination with an RFID ring which now serves as my key. To follow up on this trend of finding new ways to unlock my door, I decided to explore face recognition technologies.
User management microservice based on Neo4J
Web applications commonly require a user database and the management logic for it. Having to build such software infrastructure for each individual app would be time consuming so I designed a general-purpose user management microservice that can be easily integrated in a project.
Modeling profile webpage
Foreign models are quite in demand in Japan and as such it is not uncommon for foreigners living there to have a side activity in the modeling industry. I had the chance to meet the manager a <a href="https://azs-group.jp/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AZS entertainment</a> and was told that the agency was currently recruiting. So, since I am always looking for new life experiences, I decided to join.
Fixing "File locked" Nextcloud errors
When syncing files with NextCloud, some might get stuck in a "locked" state. Here is how to unlock them.
Wireless motion sensor
This is a wireless motion sensor that runs on rechargeable batteries. It can be deployed anywhere and sends a signal using an NRF24L01 wirless module whenever it detects motion.
Smart home control panel (SHCP)
I've been using <a href="https://www.home-assistant.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Home Assistant</a> to control my home IoT devices for a while. Although it fulfills all my needs, I wanted to make my own system so as to get a fully customized smart home control panel and learn how to build such an application in the process.
Food manager
The other day, I found myself putting on some weight. This rather surprised me as I thought I was having a healthy diet and exercised almost daily. To identify the root of the problem, I decided to start measuring my calorie intake as well as the macronutrients that constitute said intake.
IoT Kernel
Over the years, I have written firmwares for various IoT devices such as lights, locks or heaters. Those firmwares would generally handle a common set of basic functions like managing wifi connection, serving a configuration web interface over HTTP or exchange MQTT messages. However, having to implement and maintain those functions for each individual firmware quickly became tedious work. Consequently, I decided to write a library to handle all those basic functions. This library is used as a base for IoT device firmwares, on top of which device-specific logic can easily be added.